Practice questions of the Global Development Issues Exam 2020-2021
Questions on understanding development (Chapter 1/Lecture 1)
1. What are the characteristics of economic, social, and political underdevelopment?
The characteristics of economic underdevelopment are low GDP, unequal income distribution, poor
infrastructures, and poor technological use. Characteristics of social underdevelopment are
malnutrition, low literacy rate, child mortality and low school enrollment. Characteristics of political
underdevelopment are weak institutions, weak collection of tax revenue and weak democracy.
2. What does the modernization and dependency theory consist of?
Modernization theorists claim that developing countries must follow the same path as the West to
develop. They can do that by acquiring western values and by creating strong political and economic
institutions. Belief in personal ability, science, technology, and free market is also extremely
important. However, this theory was too optimistic and ethnocentric. The theory wrongfully
assumed that all good things go together. Economic development has been no proof of democracy,
equality, and stability. It also put western values above all other, so it was ethnocentric. The
dependency theory establishes that developing countries will never be able to develop and that they
cannot follow the path of the west because they changed the path for those who come now. It is
almost impossible for industrializing countries to compete with industrialized countries such as the
US, Japan, and Germany. It also claims that it was western colonialism and economic imperialism
that first turned developing countries into producers of cheap food for the core and that loans only
makes them dependent. This theory was too pessimist. Henrique Cardoso claims that developing
countries can develop through state intervention and by linking national companies to
multinationals, loans play a part in that. The disadvantage is that it may create income inequality.
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the dependency and modernization theory?
The strength of the modernization is the belief in modern culture that individuals should be judged
based on their abilities and not by the families they were born into. Strength is also the emphasis on
technology and science as a key role in development. A weakness of the theory is that it was too
optimistic and ethnocentric. It wrongfully assumed that all good things go together, however,
,economic development has been no proof of democracy, stability, and equality. A strength of the
dependency theory is that developing countries cannot follow the same path of the west as they
developed in a period where there was no competition. Also, that western colonialism and economic
imperialism turned developing countries into cheap producers of food for the West. A weakness is
that it was too pessimistic. Developing countries can develop according to Henrique Cardoso,
through state intervention and connection to multinationals.
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of globalization?
The advantages of globalization are that now, the world is more interconnected, it is easier to travel
from one place to another and it is easier to conduct trade. A disadvantage of globalization is that it
creates a greater inequality gap between developed and developing countries. With globalization
more and more products are being produced cheaply in developing countries and sold cheap to the
core. This allows western countries to take advantage of poorer citizens in developing countries.
Moreover, globalization has allowed for a greater spread of diseases, we can see as an example the
COVID-19 virus which has become a pandemic due to traveling which has been facilitated by
globalization.
5. Which countries have higher and lower levels of income equality?
Countries from eastern and central Europe with former communist pasts tend to have a more
equally distributed income. All European countries have high levels of equality, this can also be seen
in the Nordic countries such as Sweden and Norwegian which have great income equality due to
democratic socialism. East Asian countries are also among the most equal countries in the world.
This is due their communist regime and due to the distribution of agricultural farms and lands to the
citizens. Countries such as South Korea and Taiwan provided poor citizens with agricultural parcels
rather than keeping it in the hands of an elite. Due to this, they are countries which experience high
income equality and economic development. India, even with its case system, has also managed to
have high levels of income equality, much higher than for example the US. Countries with low
equality consist of the US, Latin American countries, China, and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The
US, which lacks strong leftist parties, and which focuses on a neoliberal system, has led to a high-
income distribution inequality. Countries in Latin America also have one of the highest income
inequalities in the world and this is due to Spanish colonialism, which put agricultural lands in the
hands of colonial powers, leaving the citizens with nothing. China, even though a communist
, country, has allowed the private sector to control the economy through free-market and this has led
to high levels of income inequality. At last, the countries with the most income inequality are found
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Questions on development theory and political economy (Chapter 2/Lecture 2)
1. Explain the stages of the Rostow’s stage theory.
The stages are traditional society, conditions for takeoff, take off, drive to maturity, and mass
consumption. Traditional society is characterized by agriculture and hunting and there is little social
structure. It focuses on a primary sector and change is seen as undesirable when stability is
desirable. In conditions for takeoff, external demand for raw materials begins economic growth.
Agricultural crops increase and those crops which are surplus are exported. Technological
development begins and society begins changing. In takeoff, urbanization, and industrialization
increase. There is a shift from the primary to the secondary industry and they begin producing
products such as textiles and consumer goods, just like Britain in the British Industrial Revolution. In
drive to maturity, industrialization diversifies and grows, they start producing durable consumer
goods. Technological development leads to construction of infrastructures such as schools and
hospitals. In mass consumption, industrialization is the base of the economy. Industries begin
creating more technological advanced consumer goods such as cars. Almost everyone has disposable
income which they can spend on goods.
2. What are the types of economic systems?
Command economy, LA statism, East Asia developmental state and neoliberal system. In command
economy the economic activity is in the hands of the state and the private sector is almost
inexistent. State planners rather than market-forces determines what should be produced. This
system worked in the beginning as it improved countries industrialization output and lead to higher
income equality. However, it lacked measures for consumer demand which difficulted the
production. It also focused on quantity rather than quality of products produced. At last,
concentrated power often lead to corruption. In Latin America statism, the economic activity is in
the hands of the private sector, but the state owns strategic industries. The state takes a role in
fermenting the industries by providing loans and tax cuts. LA Statism began using ISI method which
